Drug Enforcement Administration

News about Drug Enforcement Administration, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

May. 29, 2015

Arrest of Chinese chemist Haijun Tian highlights growing concerns that China is emerging as leading source of new, potent street drug called 'spice'; Tian is accused of being one of the largest exporters of drug, which looks like marijuana but is sprayed with dangerous hallucinogenic; issue reflects dangers of China's large and poorly regulated pharmaceutical industry. MORE

May. 21, 2015

Seven doctors and 41 others are arrested in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi in what Drug Enforcement Agency calls its largest crackdown on illegal trafficking of prescription drugs, including oxycodone and hydrocodone. MORE

May. 21, 2015

Drug Enforcement Admin employees David Polos and Glen Glover are charged with making false statements after their ownership stakes are disclosed in New Jersey strip club called Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge; Polos, an official at the DEA in New York City, had retired from agency after career of more than 20 years; both men face up to five years in prison. MORE

May. 20, 2015

Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating senior Venezuelan officials as part of broad probe into distribution of cocaine in Western Hemisphere MORE

May. 14, 2015

Pres Obama appoints Chuck Rosenberg, senior Federal Bureau of Investigation official and former United States attorney, as interim director of Drug Enforcement Administration; Rosenberg will replace Michele M Leonhart, who resigned amid scandal in April. MORE

Apr. 22, 2015

Drug Enforcement Admin head Michele M Leonhart will step down following scandal over DEA agents' involvement in sex parties with prostitutes; revelation has led to Leonhart being accused of mismanagement. MORE

Apr. 16, 2015

Apr. 15, 2015

Lawmakers condemn lax penalties meted out to Drug Enforcement Admin agents accused of participating in sex parties with prostitutes and misusing government funds while stationed in Colombia; agents involved in sex parties were given suspensions of two to 10 days. MORE

Apr. 2, 2015

Unsealed documents reveal that government was conducting secret investigation into Carl Mark Force IV, rogue federal agent who attempted to enrich himself during inquiry into Silk Road black market, during highly publicized trial of market's founder, Ross W Ulbricht; defense lawyers, who were prohibited from informing jury about the investigation, will seek new trial now that information has been made public. MORE

Mar. 31, 2015

Government charges former federal agents Carl Mark Force IV of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Shaun W Bridges of the Secret Service with money laundering and wire fraud; allege that men sought to enrich themselves during investigation of online black market Silk Road, exploiting site's secrecy; agents had already resigned amid growing scrutiny. MORE

Mar. 28, 2015

Editorial criticizes FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency for failing to properly report sexual misconduct by its employees or assess security risks of such violations; warns such behavior leaves agents at risk of extortion and blackmail and lowers their credibility; holds agency leaders must make it clear that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated. MORE

Mar. 27, 2015

Justice Dept inspector general reports Drug Enforcement Administration agents accepted gifts from drug cartels, including weapons and invites to sex parties with prostitutes, for several years in undisclosed country overseas. MORE

Feb. 14, 2015

Joseph M Hunter, former Army sergeant with nickname Rambo, pleads guilty to murder plot targeting a federal drug agent, in what federal officials say was Hunter's post-military role as contract killer; Hunter is also charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

Justice Dept reveals prior existence of Drug Enforcement Administration database that had contained American telephone records, adding new details to disclosures about mass government surveillance. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Drug Enforcement Administration officials raid offices of Dr Moshe Mirilishvili, in Washington Heights section of Manhattan, and arrest him and eight members of his staff on charges of illegally distributing oxycodone. MORE

Dec. 5, 2014

Drug Enforcement Administration's aggressive sting operations, undertaken with New York City Police, to take down armed suspects in city and elsewhere have come under scrutiny; critics raise questions about safety and entrapment concerning the tactic, which involves allowing suspects to enter dense areas of cities expecting to carry out violent crimes; officials defend tactics, citing high conviction rates and fact that suspects are habitually involved in similar crimes. MORE

Nov. 17, 2014

Drug Enforcement Administration agents question medical-staff members from San Francisco 49ers and several other teams as part of continuing investigation into distribution of painkillers in the NFL. MORE

Sep. 9, 2014

Drug Enforcement Administration, in effort to reduce stockpile of of unneeded medicines in homes, announces new regulation that allows consumers to return unused prescription medications that are designated as controlled substances to pharmacies. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

Drug Enforcement Administration tightens rule on hydrocodone, most widely prescribed painkiller in United States and ingredient in drugs like Vicodin, placing it in more restrictive category; move is among far-reaching efforts to stem growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse and overdose. MORE

Aug. 6, 2014

Anthony P Bosch, founder of Biogenesis and troubled businessman at center of South Florida doping scandal, surrenders to Drug Enforcement Administration agents; prosecutors charge Bosch and a half-dozen of his associates with distributing anabolic steroid testosterone to hundreds of people, including high school athletes and multimillionaire superstars. MORE

Aug. 1, 2013

Federal government agrees to pay $4.1 million to Daniel Chong, San Diego college student who was picked up in a raid in 2012; he was later found hallucinating and suffering from kidney failure inside a Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell where he had been accidentally left for four days. MORE

Oct. 18, 2012

Drug Enforcement Administration, which has tried for a decade with limited success to stem growing misuse and abuse of painkillers, is now putting pressure on distributors, which act as middlemen between drug makers and the pharmacies and doctors that dispense painkillers; critics warn legitimate patients may suffer as result from overly-aggressive enforcement tactics by DEA and other agencies. MORE

Jul. 22, 2012

Drug Enforcement Administration has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana, and is planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya, as part of an effort to combat Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe; aggressive response by the United States demonstrates its increased anti-drug focus as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have wound down. MORE

Jul. 9, 2012

Two United States Drug Enforcement Administration agents shoot and kill suspected drug trafficker in Honduras; shooting, the second in a month, is the latest demonstration of the growing American involvement in counternarcotics operations in the country. MORE

Jun. 25, 2012

United States Drug Enforcement Administration agent shoots and kills a suspected drug trafficker during a raid in Honduras; officials say the agent fired in self-defense, but the shooting brings further attention to the United States’ growing involvement in counternarcotics operations in Central America, where commando-style squads of DEA agents have been working with local security forces in several countries. MORE

Jun. 23, 2012

Aerial surveillance video of counternarcotics mission in Honduras, which put a spotlight on intensifying American involvement in such operations in Central America, shows that American agents did not fire their weapons; four Hondurans were killed during the raid. MORE

May. 19, 2012

Some Honduran officials and residents claim victims of fatal joint Honduran-American anti-drug raid on the Patuce River were innocent people; statements challenge account of American drug enforcement agents, who told reporters that the boat passengers were probably participating in illegal drug trafficking. MORE

May. 18, 2012

Residents of Ahuas, in the isolated Mosquito Coast of Honduras, have burned down government buildings and are demanding that American Drug Enforcement Administration agents leave the area immediately, intensifying a dispute over whether an antidrug operation there left four innocent people dead, including two pregnant women; Honduran officials call for investigation, which could redefine America's role in fighting drug smuggling. MORE

May. 17, 2012

Honduras is a growing focus of American counternarcotics efforts aimed at drug cartels that have increasingly sought to use its ungoverned spaces as a way point in shipping cocaine from South America to the United States; murky circumstances surround recent firefights in which Drug Enforcement Administration agents accompanied Honduran police in battles against cocaine smugglers, leaving as many as four people dead. MORE

May. 3, 2012

Drug Enforcement Agency is conducting an internal investigation concerning the case of Daniel Chong, University of California student who was placed in a holding cell and forgotten for four days without food or water, following a raid by the agency. MORE

Jan. 28, 2012

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Rep Darrell Issa increases pressure on the Justice Department by raising new questions about how the Drug Enforcement Administration conducts its undercover money-laundering investigations; questions whether those operations cross the line between fighting and facilitating crime. MORE

Jan. 1, 2012

Shortages of medicines used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have created a rare open dispute between the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration; FDA says that the shortages are a result of overly strict quotas set by the DEA, which, for its part, questions whether there really are shortages or whether manufacturers are simply choosing to make more expensive pills than generics, creating supply and demand imbalances. MORE

Dec. 6, 2011

Congressional Republicans say that they will open an investigation into undercover operations by Drug Enforcement Administration in which agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars in drug money as part of effort to help Mexico fight organized crime; critics say the operations blur the lines between surveillance and facilitating crime. MORE

Dec. 4, 2011

Undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington's expanding role in Mexico's fight against drug cartels; tactic is intended to identify cartel leaders, as well as how criminal organizations move their money and where they keep their assets; high-risk activities underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty and blur line between surveillance and facilitating crime. MORE

Dec. 1, 2011

Gov Christine Gregoire of Washington and Gov Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island petition the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses; both Washington and Rhode Island have decriminalized marijuana for medical purposes and are requesting the change to allow the safe distribution of the drug without risking federal prosecution. MORE

The raids came after a 15-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which focused on the illegal sale and distribution of painkillers including oxycodone and hydrocodone and the tranquilizer Xanax.